blog：JavaScript Module Systems Showdown: CommonJS vs AMD vs ES2015
官网链接：Hot Module Replacement（概念）
官网链接：Hot Module Replacement（API）
Modules
In modular programming, developers break programs up into discrete chunks of functionality called a module.
Each module has a smaller surface area than a full program, making verification, debugging, and testing trivial. Well-written modules provide solid abstractions and encapsulation boundaries, so that each module has a coherent design and a clear purpose within the overall application.
Node.js has supported modular programming almost since its inception. On the web, however, support for modules has been slow to arrive. Multiple tools exist that support modular JavaScript on the web, with a variety of benefits and limitations. webpack builds on lessons learned from these systems and applies the concept of modules to any file in your project.
What is a webpack Module
In contrast to Node.js modules, webpack modules can express their dependencies in a variety of ways. A few examples are:
- An ES2015
importstatement - A CommonJS
require()statement - An AMD
defineandrequirestatement - An
@importstatement inside of a css/sass/less file. - An image url in a stylesheet
url(...)or HTML<img src=...>file.
Supported Module Types
webpack supports modules written in a variety of languages and preprocessors, via loaders. Loadersdescribe to webpack how to process non-JavaScript modules and include these dependencies into your bundles. The webpack community has built loaders for a wide variety of popular languages and language processors, including:
And many others! Overall, webpack provides a powerful and rich API for customization that allows one to use webpack for any stack, while staying non-opinionated about your development, testing, and production workflows.
For a full list, see the list of loaders or write your own.
How It Works
Let's go through some different viewpoints to understand exactly how HMR works...
In the Application
The following steps allow modules to be swapped in and out of an application:
- The application asks the HMR runtime to check for updates.
- The runtime asynchronously downloads the updates and notifies the application.
- The application then asks the runtime to apply the updates.
- The runtime synchronously applies the updates.
You can set up HMR so that this process happens automatically, or you can choose to require user interaction for updates to occur.
In the Compiler
In addition to normal assets, the compiler needs to emit an "update" to allow updating from the previous version to the new version. The "update" consists of two parts:
- The updated manifest (JSON)
- One or more updated chunks (JavaScript)
The manifest contains the new compilation hash and a list of all updated chunks. Each of these chunks contains the new code for all updated modules (or a flag indicating that the module was removed).
The compiler ensures that module IDs and chunk IDs are consistent between these builds. It typically stores these IDs in memory (e.g. with webpack-dev-server), but it's also possible to store them in a JSON file.
n a Module
HMR is an opt-in feature that only affects modules containing HMR code. One example would be patching styling through the style-loader. In order for patching to work, the style-loader implements the HMR interface; when it receives an update through HMR, it replaces the old styles with the new ones.
Similarly, when implementing the HMR interface in a module, you can describe what should happen when the module is updated. However, in most cases, it's not mandatory to write HMR code in every module. If a module has no HMR handlers, the update bubbles up. This means that a single handler can update a complete module tree. If a single module from the tree is updated, the entire set of dependencies is reloaded.
See the HMR API page for details on the module.hot interface.
In the Runtime
Here things get a bit more technical... if you're not interested in the internals, feel free to jump to the HMR API page or HMR guide.
For the module system runtime, additional code is emitted to track module parents and children. On the management side, the runtime supports two methods: check and apply.
A check makes an HTTP request to the update manifest. If this request fails, there is no update available. If it succeeds, the list of updated chunks is compared to the list of currently loaded chunks. For each loaded chunk, the corresponding update chunk is downloaded. All module updates are stored in the runtime. When all update chunks have been downloaded and are ready to be applied, the runtime switches into the ready state.
The apply method flags all updated modules as invalid. For each invalid module, there needs to be an update handler in the module or in its parent(s). Otherwise, the invalid flag bubbles up and invalidates parent(s) as well. Each bubble continues until the app's entry point or a module with an update handler is reached (whichever comes first). If it bubbles up from an entry point, the process fails.
Afterwards, all invalid modules are disposed (via the dispose handler) and unloaded. The current hash is then updated and all accept handlers are called. The runtime switches back to the idle state and everything continues as normal.
Get Started
HMR can be used in development as a LiveReload replacement. webpack-dev-server supports a hot mode in which it tries to update with HMR before trying to reload the whole page. See the Hot Module Replacement guide for details.
As with many other features, webpack's power lies in its customizability. There are many ways of configuring HMR depending on the needs of a particular project. However, for most purposes,
webpack-dev-serveris a good fit and will allow you to get started with HMR quickly.
JavaScript Module Systems Showdown: CommonJS vs AMD vs ES2015
Learn about the different JavaScript module systems currently in use, and find out which will be the best option for your project.
As JavaScript development gets more and more common, namespaces and depedencies get much more difficult to handle.
Different solutions were developed to deal with this problem in the form of module systems. In this post we will explore the different solutions currently employed by developers and the problems they try to solve. Read on!
Introduction: Why Are JavaScript Modules Needed?
If you are familiar with other development platforms, you probably have some notion of the concepts of encapsulation and dependency.
Different pieces of software are usually developed in isolation until some requirement needs to be satisfied by a previously existing piece of software. At the moment that other piece of software is brought into the project a dependency is created between it and the new piece of code.
Since these pieces of software need to work together, it is of importance that no conflicts arise between them. This may sound trivial, but without some sort of encapsulation it is a matter of time before two modules conflict with each other. This is one of the reasons elements in C libraries usually carry a prefix:
#ifndef MYLIB_INIT_H
#define MYLIB_INIT_H
enum mylib_init_code {
mylib_init_code_success,
mylib_init_code_error
};
enum mylib_init_code mylib_init(void);
// (...)
#endif //MYLIB_INIT_H
Encapsulation is essential to prevent conflicts and ease development.
When it comes to dependencies, in traditional client-side JavaScript development, they are implicit.
In other words, it is the job of the developer to make sure dependencies are satisfied at the point any block of code is executed. Developers also need to make sure dependencies are satisfied in the right order (a requirement of certain libraries).
The following example is part of Backbone.js's examples. Scripts are manually loaded in the correct order:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title>Backbone.js Todos</title>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="todos.css"/>
</head>
<body>
<script src="../../test/vendor/json2.js"></script>
<script src="../../test/vendor/jquery.js"></script>
<script src="../../test/vendor/underscore.js"></script>
<script src="../../backbone.js"></script>
<script src="../backbone.localStorage.js"></script>
<script src="todos.js"></script>
</body>
<!-- (...) -->
</html>
As JavaScript development gets more and more complex, dependency management can get cumbersome.
Refactoring is also impaired: where should newer dependencies be put to maintain proper order of the load chain?
JavaScript module systems attempt to deal with these problems and others.
They were born out of necessity to accommodate the ever growing JavaScript landscape. Let's see what the different solutions bring to the table.
An Ad-Hoc Solution: The Revealing Module Pattern
Most module systems are relatively recent. Before they were available, a particular programming pattern started getting used in more and more JavaScript code: the revealing module pattern.
var myRevealingModule = (function () {
var privateVar = "Ben Cherry",
publicVar = "Hey there!";
function privateFunction() {
console.log( "Name:" + privateVar );
}
function publicSetName( strName ) {
privateVar = strName;
}
function publicGetName() {
privateFunction();
}
// Reveal public pointers to
// private functions and properties
return {
setName: publicSetName,
greeting: publicVar,
getName: publicGetName
};
})();
myRevealingModule.setName( "Paul Kinlan" );
This example was taken from Addy Osmani's JavaScript Design Patterns book.
JavaScript scopes (at least up to the appearance of let in ES2015) work at the function level.
In other words, whatever binding is declared inside a function cannot escape its scope. It is for this reason the revealing module pattern relies on functions to encapsulate private contents (as many other JavaScript patterns).
In the example above, public symbols are exposed in the returned dictionary. All other declarations are protected by the function scope enclosing them. It is not necessary to use var and an immediate call to the function enclosing the private scope; a named function can be used for modules as well.
优劣对比：
This pattern has been in use for quite some time in JavaScript projects and deals fairly nicely with the encapsulation matter. It does not do much about the dependencies issue. Proper module systems attempt to deal with this problem as well.
Another limitation lies in the fact that including other modules cannot be done in the same source (unless using eval).
Pros
- Simple enough to be implemented anywhere (no libraries, no language support required).
- Multiple modules can be defined in a single file.
Cons
- No way to programmatically import modules (except by using
eval). - Dependencies need to be handled manually.
- Asynchronous loading of modules is not possible.
- Circular dependencies can be troublesome.
- Hard to analyze for static code analyzers.
CommonJS
CommonJS is a project that aims to define a series of specifications to help in the development of server-side JavaScript applications.
One of the areas the CommonJS team attempts to address are modules.
Node.js developers originally intended to follow the CommonJS specification but later decided against it. When it comes to modules, Node.js's implementation is very influenced by it:
// In circle.js
const PI = Math.PI;
exports.area = (r) => PI * r * r;
exports.circumference = (r) => 2 * PI * r;
// In some file
const circle = require('./circle.js');
console.log( `The area of a circle of radius 4 is ${circle.area(4)}`);
One evening at Joyent, when I mentioned being a bit frustrated some ludicrous request for a feature that I knew to be a terrible idea, he said to me, "Forget CommonJS. It's dead. We are server side JavaScript." - NPM creator Isaac Z. Schlueter quoting Node.js creator Ryan Dahl
There are abstractions on top of Node.js's module system in the form of libraries that bridge the gap between Node.js's modules and CommonJS.
For the purposes of this post, we will only show the basic features which are mostly the same.
In both Node's and CommonJS's modules there are essentially two elements to interact with the module system: require and exports.
require is a function that can be used to import symbols from another module to the current scope. The parameter passed to require is the id of the module. In Node's implementation, it is the name of the module inside the node_modules directory (or, if it is not inside that directory, the path to it).
exports is a special object: anything put in it will get exported as a public element. Names for fields are preserved.
A peculiar difference between Node and CommonJS arises in the form of the module.exports object.
- In Node,
module.exportsis the real special object that gets exported, whileexportsis just a variable that gets bound by default tomodule.exports. - CommonJS, on the other hand, has no
module.exportsobject.
The practical implication is that in Node it is not possible to export a fully pre-constructed object without going through module.exports:
// This won't work, replacing exports entirely breaks the binding to
// modules.exports.
exports = (width) => {
return {
area: () => width * width
};
}
// This works as expected.
module.exports = (width) => {
return {
area: () => width * width
};
}
CommonJS modules were designed with server development in mind. Naturally, the API is synchronous.
In other words, modules are loaded at the moment and in the order they are required inside a source file.
"CommonJS modules were designed with server development in mind."
Pros
- Simple: a developer can grasp the concept without looking at the docs.
- Dependency management is integrated: modules require other modules and get loaded in the needed order.
requirecan be called anywhere: modules can be loaded programmatically.- Circular dependencies are supported.
Cons
- Synchronous API makes it not suitable for certain uses (client-side).
- One file per module.
- Browsers require a loader library or transpiling.
- No constructor function for modules (Node supports this though).
- Hard to analyze for static code analyzers.
Implementations
We have already talked about one implementation (in partial form): Node.js.
For the client there are currently two popular options: webpack and browserify.
Browserify was explicitly developed to parse Node-like module definitions (many Node packages work out-of-the-box with it!) and bundle your code plus the code from those modules in a single file that carries all dependencies.
Webpack on the other hand was developed to handle creating complex pipelines of source transformations before publishing. This includes bundling together CommonJS modules.
Asynchronous Module Definition (AMD)
AMD was born out of a group of developers that were displeased with the direction adopted by CommonJS. In fact, AMD was split from CommonJS early in its development. The main difference between AMD and CommonJS lies in its support for asynchronous module loading.
"The main difference between AMD and CommonJS lies in its support for asynchronous module loading."
//Calling define with a dependency array and a factory function
define(['dep1', 'dep2'], function (dep1, dep2) {
//Define the module value by returning a value.
return function () {};
});
// Or:
define(function (require) {
var dep1 = require('dep1'),
dep2 = require('dep2');
return function () {};
});
Asynchronous loading is made possible by using JavaScript's traditional closure idiom: a function is called when the requested modules are finished loading.
Module definitions and importing a module is carried by the same function: when a module is defined its dependencies are made explicit. An AMD loader can therefore have a complete picture of the dependency graph for a given project at runtime. Libraries that do not depend on each other for loading can thus be loaded at the same time.
This is particularly important for browsers, where startup times are essential to a good user experience.
Pros
- Asynchronous loading (better startup times).
- Circular dependencies are supported.
- Compatibility for
requireandexports. - Dependency management fully integrated.
- Modules can be split in multiple files if necessary.
- Constructor functions are supported.
- Plugin support (custom loading steps).
Cons
- Slightly more complex syntactically.
- Loader libraries are required unless transpiled.
- Hard to analyze for static code analyzers.
Implementations
Currently the most popular implementations of AMD are require.js and Dojo.
Using require.js is pretty straightforward: include the library in your HTML file and use the data-main attribute to tell require.js which module should be loaded first. Dojo has a similar setup.
ES2015 Modules
Fortunately, the ECMA team behind the standardization of JavaScript decided to tackle the issue of modules. The result can be seen in the latest release of the JavaScript standard: ECMAScript 2015 (previously known as ECMAScript 6). The result is syntactically pleasing and compatible with both synchronous and asynchronous modes of operation.
//------ lib.js ------
export const sqrt = Math.sqrt;
export function square(x) {
return x * x;
}
export function diag(x, y) {
return sqrt(square(x) + square(y));
}
//------ main.js ------
import { square, diag } from 'lib';
console.log(square(11)); // 121
console.log(diag(4, 3)); // 5
Example taken from Axel Rauschmayer blog
The import directive can be used to bring modules into the namespace. This directive, in contrast with require and define is not dynamic (i.e. it cannot be called at any place).
The export directive, on the other hand, can be used to explicitly make elements public.
The static nature of the import and export directive allows static analyzers to build a full tree of dependencies without running code. ES2015 does not support dynamic loading of modules, but a draft specification does:
System.import('some_module')
.then(some_module => {
// Use some_module
})
.catch(error => {
// ...
});
In truth, ES2015 only specifies the syntax for static module loaders. In practice, ES2015 implementations are not required to do anything after parsing these directives. Module loaders such as System.js are still required. A draft specification for browser module loading is available.
This solution, by virtue of being integrated in the language, lets runtimes pick the best loading strategy for modules. In other words, when asynchronous loading gives benefits, it can be used by the runtime.
Update (Feb 2017): there is a now a specification for dynamic loading of modules. This is a proposal for future releases of the ECMAScript standard.
Pros
- Synchronous and asynchronous loading supported.
- Syntactically simple.
- Support for static analysis tools.
- Integrated in the language (eventually supported everywhere, no need for libraries).
- Circular dependencies supported.
Cons
- Still not supported everywhere.
Implementations
Unfortunately none of the major JavaScript runtimes support ES2015 modules in their current stable branches. This means no support in Firefox, Chrome or Node.js. Fortunately many transpilers do support modules and a polyfill is also available. Currently, the ES2015 preset for Babel can handle modules with no trouble.
The All-in-One Solution: System.js
You may find yourself trying to move away from legacy code using one module system. Or you may want to make sure whatever happens, the solution you picked will still work.
Enter System.js:
a universal module loader that supports CommonJS, AMD and ES2015 modules.
It can work in tandem with transpilers such as Babel or Traceur and can support Node and IE8+ environments.
Using it is a matter of loading System.js in your code and then pointing it to your base URL:
<script src="system.js"></script>
<script>
// set our baseURL reference path
System.config({
baseURL: '/app',
// or 'traceur' or 'typescript'
transpiler: 'babel',
// or traceurOptions or typescriptOptions
babelOptions: {
}
});
// loads /app/main.js
System.import('main.js');
</script>
As System.js does all the job on-the-fly, using ES2015 modules should generally be left to a transpiler during the build step in production mode. When not in production mode, System.js can call the transpiler for you, providing seamless transition between production and debugging environments.
Aside: Auth0 Authentication with JavaScript
At Auth0, we make heavy use of full-stack JavaScript to help our customers to manage user identities including password resets, creating and provisioning, blocking and deleting users.
We also created a serverless platform, called Auth0 Extend, that enables customers to run arbitrary JavaScript functions securely.
Therefore, it must come as no surprise that using our identity management platform on JavaScript web apps is a piece of cake.
Auth0 offers a free tier to get started with modern authentication. Check it out, or sign up for a free Auth0 account here!
It's as easy as installing the auth0-js and jwt-decode node modules like so:
npm install jwt-decode auth0-js --save
Then implement the following in your JS app:
const auth0 = new auth0.WebAuth({
clientID: "YOUR-AUTH0-CLIENT-ID", // E.g., you.auth0.com
domain: "YOUR-AUTH0-DOMAIN",
scope: "openid email profile YOUR-ADDITIONAL-SCOPES",
audience: "YOUR-API-AUDIENCES", // See https://auth0.com/docs/api-auth
responseType: "token id_token",
redirectUri: "http://localhost:9000" //YOUR-REDIRECT-URL
});
function logout() {
localStorage.removeItem('id_token');
localStorage.removeItem('access_token');
window.location.href = "/";
}
function showProfileInfo(profile) {
var btnLogin = document.getElementById('btn-login');
var btnLogout = document.getElementById('btn-logout');
var avatar = document.getElementById('avatar');
document.getElementById('nickname').textContent = profile.nickname;
btnLogin.style.display = "none";
avatar.src = profile.picture;
avatar.style.display = "block";
btnLogout.style.display = "block";
}
function retrieveProfile() {
var idToken = localStorage.getItem('id_token');
if (idToken) {
try {
const profile = jwt_decode(idToken);
showProfileInfo(profile);
} catch (err) {
alert('There was an error getting the profile: ' + err.message);
}
}
}
auth0.parseHash(window.location.hash, (err, result) => {
if (err || !result) {
// Handle error
return;
}
// You can use the ID token to get user information in the frontend.
localStorage.setItem('id_token', result.idToken);
// You can use this token to interact with server-side APIs.
localStorage.setItem('access_token', result.accessToken);
retrieveProfile();
});
function afterLoad() {
// buttons
var btnLogin = document.getElementById('btn-login');
var btnLogout = document.getElementById('btn-logout');
btnLogin.addEventListener('click', function() {
auth0.authorize();
});
btnLogout.addEventListener('click', function() {
logout();
});
retrieveProfile();
}
window.addEventListener('load', afterLoad);
Get the full example using this code.
Go ahead and check out our Quick Start tutorials to learn how to implement authentication using different languages and frameworks in your apps.
Conclusion
Building modules and handling dependencies was cumbersome in the past.
Newer solutions, in the form of libraries or ES2015 modules, have taken most of the pain away. If you are looking at starting a new module or project, ES2015 is the right way to go. It will always be supported and current support using transpilers and polyfills is excellent.
On the other hand, if you prefer to stick to plain ES5 code, the usual split between AMD for the client and CommonJS/Node for the server remains the usual choice. Don't forget to leave us your thoughts in the comments section below. Hack on!